According to NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas, Officer Cortez Hankton was suspended without pay.

“I’m not going to pre-judge what this officer did, but I can guarantee you nobody I know in the law enforcement worldwide community could have looked at that and said, ‘That looked like good procedure.’ No, emergency suspended without pay until we get to the bottom of this,” said Serpas.

Hankton is seen in a video watching as two women fighting and a man punching one of the women.

Serpas called the action unacceptable and that a full investigation under way.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu applauded Serpas' decision to suspend Hankton. He released the following statement Wednesday evening:

“This officer’s inaction is immensely troubling to me and well below the standard I expect from officers in our police department. We have zero tolerance for an officer who fails to protect our citizens. I support the Chief’s decision to act quickly to suspend this officer and launch an investigation into the matter."

Forty years ago, one of the greatest boxing matches in history took place in an unlikely setting: the capital of the Philippines. Muhammad Ali's epic win over great rival Joe Frazier in 1975 became known as the "Thrilla in Manila."